Wal-Mart changes its mind, leaves existing DRM servers up
In what can only be described as another "damned if you do, damned if you don't" scenario, faced with the option of thousands of disgruntled customers, Wal-Mart is informing them it's decided to leave its online DRM servers running.
According to letters received by customers and reprinted today by multiple sources -- among them Boing Boing's Cory Doctorow -- the nation's largest retailer is telling them that music they downloaded from the Wal-Mart online music store can continue to be played indefinitely. It has apparently reversed its decision of last week, and while still moving forward toward a DRM-free model for future music downloads, will leave its servers online to support the DRM schemes in existing downloads.
Hands on: An amateur photographer tests out Adobe's latest Lightroom
Digital cameras have changed the photography landscape, enabling amateurs to become what marketers call "prosumers." The latest gear and software tools are now being directed at this group, but is it worthwhile for you to upgrade? Mary Hartney spent a month with Adobe's Lightroom 2 to find out.
As a self-taught photographer who has shot with formats all over the map, it's only natural that I would have cobbled together a patchwork system for editing and processing my photos. A marketing expert would call me a consumer-level photographer, or a serious amateur, and both are correct. I began shooting in spring of 2006 with a 35mm Canon from the early 1980s, experimented with some toy cameras, and eventually invested in a Nikon D80 and three lenses.
Mobile service providers brace for the economic storm
Your cellular-service provider is no more immune to the effects of financial panic than anyone else, and as the economy contracts, certain "unlimited" voice and data plans may, in fact, find themselves limited.
Verizon announced Friday that it will up fees by 3 cents/message for firms that send SMS messages to users -- a move that's likely to put a serious crunch on businesses designed around that testing model. Meanwhile, earlier in the week AT&T lowered the boom on customers of its pre-paid GoPhone data service who used it to plug their laptops into mobile-broadband services. AT&T announced that it'll discontinue its $19.99/month service plan, which it framed as a trial offer that had run its course.
Apple warns users about bad Nvidia graphics chips
In offering free repairs on impacted MacBook Pro laptops, Apple yesterday told users that the symptoms of faulty Nvidia graphics processors include "distorted video or no video."
Apple on Thursday contended that, contrary to promises by Nvidia Corp., MacBook Pro laptops may contain bad Nvidia graphics chips. Apple also offered users an extended warranty and free repairs on the affected PCs.
New Norton Vista tool trades UAC for online feedback
Download Norton Labs UAC Tool for Windows Vista from FileForum now.
The latest freeware tool from Norton Labs offers to do Vista users a favor by turning off many of those annoying User Access Control prompts. If you're wondering what Symantec wants in return...so were we.
Verizon Wireless to raise fees for service-related texts
Verizon Wireless sent an announcement to partner companies this week that it will add a 3¢ fee for Mobile Terminated (MT) messages on the first of November.
There are generally three types of SMS traffic: Mobile Originated/Application Terminated, Application Originated/Mobile Terminated, and Mobile Originated/Mobile Terminated. Each type of SMS exchange is used for different purposes. For example, Mobile Originated/Application Terminated messages are used for text message voting systems.
BlackBerry Bold sales halted in UK
Research in Motion's BlackBerry Bold has undergone yet another delay, this time it's been attributed to "software issues" by UK service provider Orange.
The launch of Blackberry's 3G Bold smartphone in the US has been restricted due to what were purported to be extended Quality of Service tests on AT&T's network. This explanation now has some doubt cast upon it as a leaked document from UK carrier Orange attributes its halted Bold sales to software issues.
Internet snoop Adzilla vacates the American market
US Congressional hearings are one sign. But in another sign that North Americans are getting fed up with Web snooping, Adzilla has shut down its American operations and headed for the less privacy-focused environment of Asia.
In response to a Congressional crackdown on Charter Communications and its Web tracking partner NebuAd, fellow Internet privacy snoop Adzilla is abandoning its North American operations and packing its bags for the Asia-Pacific.
Qualcomm gains an ally in its renewed war with Broadcom
The leading provider of chipsets for the world's GPS devices is no longer seen as unchallenged in that department, and in August was handed a crushing defeat at the hands of Broadcom. Now, the enemy of its enemy may be its newest friend.
Last August 8, a judge with the US International Trade Commission found that SiRF Technology, a company that builds the chipsets used in a sizable, but slipping, majority of the world's GPS systems, were infringing upon six US patents from a Broadcom subsidiary directly related to the sensitivity of GPS devices. That subsidiary is called Global Locate, Inc., and it too makes GPS chipsets.
First look at latest OpenOffice merits a second
The Games for Learning Institute wants to grow a new geek crop
Microsoft's partnering with a number of New York colleges and schools to work math- and science-friendly video games into middle-school classrooms. Wait, you say -- don't middle-school kids already have enough love for videogames?
Sure they do. It's love for science, math and computer science that begins to ebb among the middle-school crowd. That's the bridge the Games for Learning Institute (G4LI) hopes to build -- compiling data about how effectively games work as learning tools for the early-teen set and developing titles that re-engage their interest just as they're beginning to study more complex math and science concepts.
OpenSource World steps into LinuxWorld's more constrained shoes
In announcing this week that a new event, OpenSource World, will now usurp the long-standing, LinuxWorld extravaganza held annually in August, conference organizers IDG World Expo are continuing down a path mapped out back in 2005.
Like the late LinuxWorld, the newly born OpenSource World will take place in San Francisco. Meanwhile, O'Reilly & Associates is moving its own open source fest, OSCON, from Portland, Oregon to San Francisco.
Just the facts, please: Apple announces a Mac notebook event
Apple and wildly speculative rumors about the company are practically inseparable. Today, the company emailed invitations to an October 14 event in its hometown of Cupertino, CA.
As usual, it needs to say very little to get the public talking a lot. The ad shows the ubiquitous, titanium aluminum notebook lid with the glowing white Apple trademark and the epigraph: "The spotlight turns to notebooks."
Time for a 'Patch Tuesday' just for Apple?
In an advisory published by Apple this afternoon, Mac users and admins are being advised of the availability of the seventh major security package this year, which will include some 20 patches for both the System and Mac applications.
The last major Apple security update came on September 15, and the one before was issued on the last day of July. So security updates are getting to be a monthly affair with Apple, just as they've been with Microsoft for quite some time.
Motorola dashboard computer uses Windows Mobile 6
Motorola today introduced an all-in-one in-car computer system that runs on Windows Mobile 6, thrusting the mobile OS into the turf where Windows XP and CE reigned.
Motorola has introduced its VC6096 dash-mounted mobile computer, designed especially for vehicle-based workforce applications. Emergency and police vehicle systems, though differing from state to state, most frequently run either Windows XP and XP Embedded (PDF available from Glacier Computer for one example) or Windows CE.
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